Last week after much research and deliberation, my husband and I purchased an 8 month old yellow sided conure. He's adorable and we love him so much!! However, we have just learned that we are unexpectedly pregnant, and seeing how much attention that our feathered baby thrives on, we have decided that it would be completely unfair to keep him given our changing life situation. Since he is so new to our home, he's not totally bonded to us, and we are hoping to find a wonderful PERMANENT home for him to go to asap. He is so gentle, quiet and inquisitive, this breaks my heart, but I know in the long run it is the right thing to do. We are in Edmonton if anyone is interested!!!

Really? It seems like he would love to be with us all the time, and I just can't see how we can give him 2 - 3 hours a day between working and starting a family. I just would hate to see him feel neglected.....

I do not understand how a pregnancy would create a problem for your feathered friend. A friend of mine who has two birds tells me they are fragile creatures easily stressed by change of domicile and it would seem yours will easily adapt to the baby. My friend for example has two children, one 5 and one 6 mos, 5 cats - 3 recently rescued kittens who are more interested in her birds than rhw older cats but they are learning. She even has a pict with her Himilayan kitty and bird playing together - and she has a beagle. All get along - supervised of course!! So I am sure you will be able to manage a baby and a bird very easily. I am sure actually your featrhered baby would love the new baby! (and vice versa!). Congrats and good luck!! I think you are anticipating problems that will never materialize!

I realize your REally reply was not to me but I would just add you can work around it. Bring the bird with you when caring for the b baby. As long as he (she?) is where you all are, s.he should be just fine!

I do parrot rescue along with the training business and believe that you can manage with the bird and the baby just fine. I have several birds including a cockatoo so if you want to see a bird who wants to have attention then just meet her. She has learnt that she will not get constant attention but she does get some and she goes with us when we go away or go camping. I also have 3 dogs,ferrets and 2 kids.
Believe it or not a new born sleeps a lot of the time so you will actually have plenty of time for the bird and someone else has mentioned as long as your bird is kept in the room that most of the activity in the house happens and he/she has a good rotation of toys the bird will be just fine.

If you are going back to work after the baby is born, if no one is going to home all day and the bird will sit in a cage 16 hours a day alone, then I think rehoming it is a good idea, since this would be a bleak and inhumane existance. If you rehome, make sure the person is very knowledgeable and experienced with parrots and can provide what this bird needs.

One of the most highly intelligent of all creatures, parrots need lots of stimulation, playtime and interaction. If you watch them in the wild, they are contantly busy and always with others.

However if you're going to be a stay home mom, then the bird will probably get all the excitement and stimulation it needs just with normal daily activities.

I would have to disagree. Most people with pets work away from home and their pets still get all the interaction they need. Just because someone has children and/or works away from home would be no reason why they shouldn't have them. I may have missed something but why would it be 16 hrs.

Since this little one is so young you will want to do something to prepare him for the length of time you will be able to spend handling per day. This does not include time playing on a gym or playing with toys outside of the cage. This would be physically handling. Parrots can develop behaviour problems when they are used to say being handled 3 hrs a day and it suddenly changes to for example 1 hr a day. Screaming, plucking, etc are some common ones. Don't keep a structured schedule with him. Instead if you think that it is more realistic that you will be able to handle him an hour a day most of the time then get him used to this and increase the time now and then, once or twice a week. Let him play out of his cage for the remainder of the time. I find the best thing to do is have his cage in the room that has the most family activity and when you are there let him come out and play on a gym. As for the handling do it for shorter periods of time several times a day and talk to him from across the room while he is playing on his own.
Honestly he will be fine even with a new family member in the home. The only downside is he will probably learn the sounds of the baby and duplicate them.

Below is a link to a parrot rescue based out of Edmonton. I would call them and tell them your situation. Hopefully they will be able to help you work through the issues and possibly keep the bird. If not, they should be able to help you find a suitable home for the bird.

If you are going back to work after the baby is born, if no one is going to home all day and the bird will sit in a cage 16 hours a day alone, then I think rehoming it is a good idea, since this would be a bleak and inhumane existance. If you rehome, make sure the person is very knowledgeable and experienced with parrots and can provide what this bird needs.

However if you're going to be a stay home mom, then the bird will probably get all the excitement and stimulation it needs just with normal daily activities.

I don't mean to critic or anything,and I know that Deb, you do wonderfull things, but if she re-homes the bird, unless she can be assured that the new home will have full time humans in it, what's the difference? Why not work the bird into the new lifestyle.

I had a budgie when I was a kid, it used to eat my cereal perched on the side of the bowl. He lived in a cage (for safety sake) while my brother and I were at school, but otherwise flew free in the house. He was great, his name was Chirpy and he was a weird green/yellow colour. If it weren't for my love of cats, I'd probably have another one (but my cats have always been of the barn variety and there's no way to teach them no to kill)

i would love your bird mine is a yellow sided conya its 5 mouths old and i think that a new freind would be good for him my email is thankyou my name is ashley and i would love your bird

Quote:

Originally Posted by holly o

Hello, this is my first post and a sad yet happy one at that!

Last week after much research and deliberation, my husband and I purchased an 8 month old yellow sided conure. He's adorable and we love him so much!! However, we have just learned that we are unexpectedly pregnant, and seeing how much attention that our feathered baby thrives on, we have decided that it would be completely unfair to keep him given our changing life situation. Since he is so new to our home, he's not totally bonded to us, and we are hoping to find a wonderful PERMANENT home for him to go to asap. He is so gentle, quiet and inquisitive, this breaks my heart, but I know in the long run it is the right thing to do. We are in Edmonton if anyone is interested!!!

Last edited by Capt. Jack; June 24th, 2007 at 04:07 PM.
Reason: Please do not post personal info on the open forum.

Hi Holly. My name is Amy. I was reading your post about you 8 month old Conure. Although I live in Wichita, KS I am the owner of a 10 month old yellow sided green cheeked conure. Her name is Sophie. I am interested in taking your conure, I was wanting another bird and your post grabbed me. I was wondering how much you wanted for your conure. Iwould love to here back from you. Thanks a bunch. Amy M.

Last edited by hazelrunpack; April 23rd, 2011 at 08:36 PM.
Reason: Edited out personal email addy